The Ministry of Defense says a soldier from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards died in an explosion while on a foot patrol yesterday.

A soldier from the 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment was killed by a rocket propelled grenade attack and a soldier from The Light Dragoons was killed by a contact explosion while taking part in the same operation near Gereshk in central Helmand yesterday, the MoD said.

A soldier from 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment was killed by a rocket propelled grenade and a soldier from The Light Dragoons was killed by a contact explosion, the MoD said.

The deaths take the number of UK service personnel killed in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001 to 174. Their next of kin have been informed.

Lt Colonel Nick Richardson, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: “The loss of these soldiers, and colleagues, has come as a huge blow to us all. But it is the family, friends and loved ones, as well as the men and women who served alongside them, who feel the greatest pain and we offer them our deepest and heartfelt condolences, thoughts and prayers and take consolation from the fact that their deaths are not in vain.”